New Summit Investments is one of the first and leading private market impact fund-of-funds. New Summit has a compelling track record guiding their research and investment strategy.
Turnkey Impact Investing
New Summit distinctively makes it easier for investors to extend their impact to private markets. Their fund-of-funds investment approach provides turnkey solutions for investors looking for access and diversification to impactful investments.
Key features
- Fund Structure: Fund-of-Funds, a pooled fund that invests in other funds.
- Diversification: Many impact funds are sector specific. New Summit provides diversified exposure across sectors and fund managers.
- Accessibility: Most private equity or debt funds have high investment minimums and some don’t take individual investors. New Summit provides private market access to investors.
- Track record: One of a few impact fund-of-funds that is US based and broadly focused with a track record from multiple funds.
- Team and leadership: Seasoned professionals led by Alex Lamb, provide financial and impact due diligence supported by deep research.
Investment Goals & Impact Pillars
New Summit believes that market-rate returns are a critical part of expanding the impact investing ecosystem, as are compelling impact theses. They don’t believe in trading off one for the other.
New Summit pursues private market investments across three primary impact pillars:
- Climate Solutions: investment in environmental technologies and renewable energy
- Economic Opportunity: technologies or services that reduce the cost of healthcare and increase access to products advancing well-being
- Healthy Communities: local and national efforts to provide affordable housing, living wage jobs and access to education
The Investment Solution
Investments designed to solve our greatest environmental and social challenges will thrive in an increasingly connected, complex, and resource-dependent world.
New Summit’s impact strategy is aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a global framework for achieving a more prosperous and sustainable future for the planet.
Channeling Capital for Impact
New Summit designed a modeled portfolio spanning asset classes and impact themes, essentially providing the opportunity for an investor to have a turnkey solution to private market impact investing. They believe this is especially important to ensure that more investors are gaining access to impact investments and that are channeling additional capital to impact-driven fund managers.
“Working at the fund-of-funds level enables a systems-wide understanding of the impact investing landscape. Instead of operating within one investment strategy and portfolio of companies, we get to track dozens of fund managers and hundreds of investment opportunities. Our due diligence process is very focused on the general partners of a fund, their track record, and their thesis surrounding impact.” – Casey Dilloway, Director of Investor Relations
Keeping it fresh with Fund III
New Summit tracks a network of over 500 fund managers that they evaluate regarding conviction for impact, financial return, and fund structure. Ultimately, they select 10-15 fund managers per vintage, which generally results from conducting due diligence on 150+ investment opportunities.
Most of the initial investments that New Summit has made in Fund III so far are with managers who they haven’t invested with before. The team is particularly thrilled at the evolution of venture capital funds who can now communicate explicit carbon reduction goals that guide their investment strategy. It’s reassuring to see increasing commitments to quantifiable impact goals. Beyond carbon, New Summit looks for goals related to affordable housing, expanded access to education, health care technology, and a host of metrics regarding reduced waste.
Investment Spotlight
Buoyant Ventures is one portfolio fund example. Buoyant invests in startups that leverage software and simple hardware to address climate change across a range of industries including energy, mobility, agriculture, water, circular economy, and the built environment. As the impacts of climate change continue to worsen, it is crucial that we support innovative solutions that can make a real difference. Buoyant Ventures’ focus on digital technology provides a unique approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Scaling Impact
Seven years on, New Summit’s efforts have resulted in $115 million of additional capital channeled to investments providing solutions to the greatest challenges of our time.
This progress comes from the collective efforts of their investor community, the managers they select for each of their funds, and the hundreds of entrepreneurs creating solution-oriented businesses.
- 250+ Impact Investors
- 25 Impact Fund Managers
- 300+ Underlying Investments
Thanks to these collective efforts, New Summit has become a leading manager of private market funds-of-funds focused on environmental and social impact.
Visit their website https://www.newsummitinvestments.com/ to learn more.
Disclosure: I have been making impact investments for 14 years and am a current proud investor with New Summit Investments. This article is for informational purposes only. I am continually grateful to the people and organizations that help grow my own awareness of impactful organizations making the world a better place through investing.